One could sense it.
The thick smell of blood.
The dead and the dying.
The end of the Kemened Royal Family.
“… …”
Radan clutched at the bars that had locked him up tight.
The iron bars of the cage that had been used for confining hunted animals even caused Radan, who was of small stature, to have to bend his body to the fullest to fit.
“M,My Lord……”
It had been three hours since he’d heard the sound of the Asilah Palace gates being opened.
Radan was listening to all the sounds around him, of things he couldn’t bear to imagine.
Leshak’s words that he ‘would show him the end of Kemened’ became a nail in his heart.
It’s because of me ~
His white knuckles sprouted from his fingers that were holding on to the bars.
I’m the reason ~
Immediately after his birth, he killed his Mother and his nanny. He was the curse upon the Royal Family of Kemened.
Why was it me ~
His slender shoulders shook, undulating in thin waves.
Why me…. ~
-No! It’s not a curse.
Radan raised his head at the sound coming from inside his head.
“Wh,who……?”
He could tell without even asking.
He was in his dream, or her’s, or someone’s who he does not know.
-You are not cursed.
“Th,those words……are lies.”
“Then why……”
-You are not the one who was cursed.
“Then wh,who…… ”
-Think about it carefully. Who is cursed if not you.
“Wh,who…….”
-The one who will suffer the most, because of you. The one who lost their heart because of you. Your pretty fangs will bite his heart.
Radan gasped.
“S,surely……!?”
It can’t be.
This curse does not belong to Leshak. Rather, he will be the one to take it, and swallow it.
-You’ll be the one to kill him. That’s my curse.
“Oh no! no! I,I’m not going to..…k,kill Majesty! Never!
-Well. Could that be?
The voice became sweet.
Like those cloud-like sweets that Karum brought back that day.
-He would kill your whole family? Here, without leaving a single person.
“Ah……”
The hand holding the bars trembled.
A gentle voice pressed against his ear.
-So, you’re going to kill him before then. Then you can save your people. Your poor second brother, who is desperate for your help and cannot survive without you.
“N,no…… not……going…….”
-Your eyes are there for that. My pretty little Blue Snake. Keep it in mind. One Caliph’s life, or hundreds and thousands of lives here.
“Not……”
-Remember this curse. This curse will not end unless all the blood of the Caliph is gone.
The voice disappeared.
Then,
Ca Chung!-
The cage shook.
“There’s an order to take you to the prayer room.”
They who’d locked Radan in a cage were heard lightly.
Radan clutched the iron bars tightly. He had to find a way to save Leshak from this curse.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
2“A monster is born into the Royal Family.”
The Chamberlain’s voice echoed through the basement of the palace, where there were more shadows than lights.
Even the smallest breath he exhaled resembled a gloomy wind.
“As soon as the ignorant thing opened his eyes, he killed the Queen, the Midwife, and the Nanny. It was said that it was because he was cursed by a Basilisk.”
“Basilisk?”
The Chamberlain nodded his head slightly.
“A snake with a terrible venom.”
The Chamberlain’s eyes, which seemed to distort as though he were possessed by painful memories, were in fact carefully examining Prince Leshak’s reaction.
Leshak didn’t know what a ‘Basilisk’ was.
It meant that the story of the Blue Snake was enough to levy a negotiation.
“And then there was war. It was a war everyone opposed. Within less than half a year since the war began, the opposition has intensified. However, His Majesty Alsanu III, said that this war would surely be won, because God had sent his messenger.”
The man’s name was Mjab.
The Guide came to Alsanu III with a prophecy that had been forgotten even within the Empire.
“There was a prophecy……… about the Crown Prince of the Empire. That a snake’s bite would be his death. And there were Basilisks in Kemened’s Royal Family’s house. It was a strong implication and an assurance. After all, it meant that it would be Kemened who would kill the Crown Prince of the Empire. From then on, the Blue Snake became an assassin.”
That was the reason why they had waged a war without apparent cause, for seven years.
Alsanu III believed that God had given him this continent. The Ibeden Empire would be destroyed and the continent would receive a new Emperor.
The Basilisk was a blessing from God, and the Queen was a sacrifice to prove that blessing.
“But the power of the empire was strong….. When Lord Razil returned home after losing his foot, His Majesty was no longer able to maintain his faith in God.”
Alsanu III could not comprehend a God who did not take care of the eldest son who became an amputee, or even the First Prince who would instead become the new Emperor of the Empire.
When faith was broken, God punished him.
Alsanu III suffered from dementia, and the First Prince was devastated by hashish addiction.
Asilah Palace wandered through a maze of war and the betrayal by God.
If the Second Prince had abandoned his faith in God, then it could have ended much earlier.
“…… As long as there is a Monster, the Prince of Yveden will surely die, and the war will end in victory for Kemened. His Highness the Regent, Second Prince Laud, believed so. And he made a decision.”
So The Unknown Assassin was sent to kill Leshak Caliph.
The Chamberlain concluded the long story.
“Even if you kill everyone in the Kemened Royal Family now, unless you kill the Blue Snake, the Crown Prince of Ybeden will be killed someday. Accept the surrender. In return, I will hand over custody of the Blue Serpent to you.”
The Chamberlain did not know the Blue Snake’s circumstances. The news that he was being held alive by Leshak’s Army had not yet reached the Kemened Royal Family.
What he believed was that there had been no contact from the People of Mjab, and that the Second Prince Laud, was not yet dead.
Well, those two things were true.
Leshak’s lips twisted.
“The news is late. The Blue Snake is already in my custody. Did you not know that?”
“He……”
The bewildered Chamberlain immediately straightened his faltering gaze.
“Don’t be quick to jump to conclusions about the Blue Snake. You don’t know how he kills people, do you? He has succeeded in assassinating anyone at any time. His first murder was when he was eleven. There is no man he cannot make up his mind to kill. There were no exceptions, be it man or beast.”
As long as the curse on the Blue Snake’s eyes was not known by the opposition, the Chamberlain was able to continue this negotiation.
“There is no point in having custody of him. He can kill with both hands and feet tied. The only one who can handle the Blue Snake fully, is Laud.”
“… …”
The Chamberlain noticed the subtle changes in the eyes of First Prince Leshak Caliph.
There was wavering in his heart.
Leshak Caliph was also a man. Anyone who learned that there are prophecies that threaten their life, and were coming true one by one, would have been diisturbed.
“I will accept terms for the war. He has no political experience and trusts me. All the promises I make here will be true.”
However, there was something the Chamberlain had misunderstood.
Leshak’s agitation was coming from somewhere else.
“Is the Second Prince the only one who can fully handle the Blue Snake?”
“……That’s right.”
“That’s right, that’s what you’re saying?”
Leshak’s hand was unknowingly on his heart. It was a habit that came into being at some point.
As his agitation intensified, it felt like his heart was on fire, and it was always Radan that lit the wick.
“What is the reason?”
“What? Reason?”
The Chamberlain was perplexed.
Why can Laud handle Blue Snake? It was because he was the only person the Blue Snake had. The only family that talks to him.
“My father has dementia. My big brother can’t use his legs, and my second brother desperately needs my help. I thought I’d heard that somewhere.”
The fingers that had been fumbling around his heart were now clasping in the same place.
“Rasil, Laud, and Radan.”
Leshak’s voice came down close. The Grand Chamberlain’s, who was sitting on the floor in the basement with his knees up, cold bottom shifted.
“…… That’s why……”
“The Blue Snake must be the son of Alsanu III.”
The Chamberlain bit his tongue.
He knew it wasn’t good to say it. The opponent was the Crown Prince of the enemy country. There was no reason for it to matter where the Blue Snake was born.
“What…… What does it matter?”
It had nothing to do with the Crown Prince of Ibeden.
Leshak knew that too. However, regardless of what his head knew, his blood was boiling all over his body.
There were too many things that could be guessed from the words of the Chamberlain.
They called the Prince of Kemened a monster.
And they were willing to trade his life for the life of the First Prince, who couldn’t even control his own bladder because of his hashish addiction.
Radan could not have been a Prince to them. It was a name that Radan had been promised in return for the assassination.
A name that he would never have been called before because of the words such as a Blue Snake or a Monster.
“Did you say that his first assassination was eleven?”
“… …”
The Chamberlain didn’t say anything and just shrugged his shoulders.
A different kind of fear crept in and froze him. Until he encountered Prince Leshak, who had just attacked him in the basement, he thought there was nothing more terrifying than the end of the Kemened Royal Family
But not now.
There now seemed to be something more terrifying than that.
“He crawled on his knees and licked his feet. The Prince of Kemened! If you don’t like it, you can hit me. He said that he often heard that hitting him felt good because his skin is so soft. Was that Laud Ranadia’s way of dealing with his brother ‘fully’?”
The Chamberlain shook his head vigorously, he had to deny whatever it was.
“Oh, you believe the assassin’s words……. Isn’t an assassin capable of inventing any lie?”
“He was walking through a brothel blindfolded. A place full of perverts who like children, like Count Custer. Blood gushed from the wounds where he had been whipped. Are you saying that was the Prince of Kemened?”
“He. The case…… ”
What Radan gave him was a pile of lies, and a handful of truths. Most of what he said was a lie. Had no choice but to think so. It had to be!
But why am I so angry?~
Leshak felt the rage that kept trying to get away from him.
The suspicion that maybe what Radan said were a bunch of truths, and a single lie, drove him out of control.
Radan said the name of his second brother was Laud.
He read the cipher text left by the spy.
He could not distinguish between what was to be hidden, and what was to be faked.
The idea that most of what Raden said might be true filled the hole in his heart with anger.
Radan betrayed him. Radan’s true identity was an assassin.
But Radan’s past still angered him.
It was as though it wasn’t Radan who lied to him, but Radan’s past.
The Chamberlain was also a part of that past.
Now, Leshak’s hands were trembling, and he wanted to cut off the Chamberlain’s head.
“What did you feed him?”
The Chamberlain eyes fluttered.
He too must have felt Leshek’s sharp anger towards himself. Even if he doesn’t understand why Leshak was angry.
“Why….. Why do you ask?”
“Was it a dried snake?”
“H,how…. that,”
The Chamberlain hurriedly shut his mouth.
The sight of Leshak’s hand groping over the hilt of his sword penetrated his eyes.
“And now, you use him as a prize for a deal. As though that life was nothing.”
Radan’s life should have meant nothing to Leshak. But he couldn’t stop it. Leshak’s lost control of his emotions.
His feelings were no longer his own.
It has probably been that way since before.
From the moment he met the assassin named Radan.
“There is no deal. Kemened will disappear from this land today.”
“Oh, no! I know the secret of the Blue Snake! If you don’t know that, the Blue Snake…… !”
Shwwp!-
The Chamberlain’s head was cut off.
Leshak’s sword shook with anger even after killing the man.
“Your Majesty!”
It was at that time that Abadd, who had searched the basement of Asilah Palace under Leshak’s order, returned.
“I found a secret passage, and,”
“And?”
“There is something for you to see.”
Abadd saw the sword still vibrating because he used too much force.
Leshak, who looked different from yesterday’s battle, was holding the sword.
His expression was clear.
The anger was clearer than that, as if it had been sharpened.
“What is it?”
“It’s a room underground.”
What Abadd discovered was a room, tightly sealed with a solid iron gate.
Layers of chains and locks hung from the bar that closed the iron door.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
3The room was not big.
It was more like a metal box than a room.
The iron gate was thick but it was small, and the window at the bottom was even smaller.
“The lock has already been broken. If you tell me, I will open it.”
There were three locks in all.
One bar across the top, and one at the bottom of the iron gate, and one on the window.
Leshak bent over and retracted the bar on the window.
“Be careful, Your Majesty. We don’t know what it might be.”
Screeching-
Despite Abadd’s concerns, he opened the window. A cold friction sound raked across their eardrums.
The only thing that flowed out through the window was the rotting chill.
As he inhaled, the smell from the inside entered his body. The heavy, fishy smell that had been stagnant for a long time came straight into his lungs.
Leshak’s gaze scanned the room once.
The last place his eyes stopped was an old worn out pitted board with straw tangled on the floor.
Leshak’s face contorted.
“Was there……. anyone here?”
One could sense it.
The thick smell of blood.
The dead and the dying.
The end of the Kemened Royal Family.
“… …”
Radan clutched at the bars that had locked him up tight.
The iron bars of the cage that had been used for confining hunted animals even caused Radan, who was of small stature, to have to bend his body to the fullest to fit.
“M,My Lord……”
It had been three hours since he’d heard the sound of the Asilah Palace gates being opened.
Radan was listening to all the sounds around him, of things he couldn’t bear to imagine.
Leshak’s words that he ‘would show him the end of Kemened’ became a nail in his heart.
It’s because of me ~
His white knuckles sprouted from his fingers that were holding on to the bars.
I’m the reason ~
Immediately after his birth, he killed his Mother and his nanny. He was the curse upon the Royal Family of Kemened.
Why was it me ~
His slender shoulders shook, undulating in thin waves.
Why me…. ~
-No! It’s not a curse.
Radan raised his head at the sound coming from inside his head.
“Wh,who……?”
He could tell without even asking.
He was in his dream, or her’s, or someone’s who he does not know.
-You are not cursed.
“Th,those words……are lies.”
“Then why……”
-You are not the one who was cursed.
“Then wh,who…… ”
-Think about it carefully. Who is cursed if not you.
“Wh,who…….”
-The one who will suffer the most, because of you. The one who lost their heart because of you. Your pretty fangs will bite his heart.
Radan gasped.
“S,surely……!?”
It can’t be.
This curse does not belong to Leshak. Rather, he will be the one to take it, and swallow it.
-You’ll be the one to kill him. That’s my curse.
“Oh no! no! I,I’m not going to..…k,kill Majesty! Never!
-Well. Could that be?
The voice became sweet.
Like those cloud-like sweets that Karum brought back that day.
-He would kill your whole family? Here, without leaving a single person.
“Ah……”
The hand holding the bars trembled.
A gentle voice pressed against his ear.
-So, you’re going to kill him before then. Then you can save your people. Your poor second brother, who is desperate for your help and cannot survive without you.
“N,no…… not……going…….”
-Your eyes are there for that. My pretty little Blue Snake. Keep it in mind. One Caliph’s life, or hundreds and thousands of lives here.
“Not……”
-Remember this curse. This curse will not end unless all the blood of the Caliph is gone.
The voice disappeared.
Then,
Ca Chung!-
The cage shook.
“There’s an order to take you to the prayer room.”
They who’d locked Radan in a cage were heard lightly.
Radan clutched the iron bars tightly. He had to find a way to save Leshak from this curse.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
2“A monster is born into the Royal Family.”
The Chamberlain’s voice echoed through the basement of the palace, where there were more shadows than lights.
Even the smallest breath he exhaled resembled a gloomy wind.
“As soon as the ignorant thing opened his eyes, he killed the Queen, the Midwife, and the Nanny. It was said that it was because he was cursed by a Basilisk.”
“Basilisk?”
The Chamberlain nodded his head slightly.
“A snake with a terrible venom.”
The Chamberlain’s eyes, which seemed to distort as though he were possessed by painful memories, were in fact carefully examining Prince Leshak’s reaction.
Leshak didn’t know what a ‘Basilisk’ was.
It meant that the story of the Blue Snake was enough to levy a negotiation.
“And then there was war. It was a war everyone opposed. Within less than half a year since the war began, the opposition has intensified. However, His Majesty Alsanu III, said that this war would surely be won, because God had sent his messenger.”
The man’s name was Mjab.
The Guide came to Alsanu III with a prophecy that had been forgotten even within the Empire.
“There was a prophecy……… about the Crown Prince of the Empire. That a snake’s bite would be his death. And there were Basilisks in Kemened’s Royal Family’s house. It was a strong implication and an assurance. After all, it meant that it would be Kemened who would kill the Crown Prince of the Empire. From then on, the Blue Snake became an assassin.”
That was the reason why they had waged a war without apparent cause, for seven years.
Alsanu III believed that God had given him this continent. The Ibeden Empire would be destroyed and the continent would receive a new Emperor.
The Basilisk was a blessing from God, and the Queen was a sacrifice to prove that blessing.
“But the power of the empire was strong….. When Lord Razil returned home after losing his foot, His Majesty was no longer able to maintain his faith in God.”
Alsanu III could not comprehend a God who did not take care of the eldest son who became an amputee, or even the First Prince who would instead become the new Emperor of the Empire.
When faith was broken, God punished him.
Alsanu III suffered from dementia, and the First Prince was devastated by hashish addiction.
Asilah Palace wandered through a maze of war and the betrayal by God.
If the Second Prince had abandoned his faith in God, then it could have ended much earlier.
“…… As long as there is a Monster, the Prince of Yveden will surely die, and the war will end in victory for Kemened. His Highness the Regent, Second Prince Laud, believed so. And he made a decision.”
So The Unknown Assassin was sent to kill Leshak Caliph.
The Chamberlain concluded the long story.
“Even if you kill everyone in the Kemened Royal Family now, unless you kill the Blue Snake, the Crown Prince of Ybeden will be killed someday. Accept the surrender. In return, I will hand over custody of the Blue Serpent to you.”
The Chamberlain did not know the Blue Snake’s circumstances. The news that he was being held alive by Leshak’s Army had not yet reached the Kemened Royal Family.
What he believed was that there had been no contact from the People of Mjab, and that the Second Prince Laud, was not yet dead.
Well, those two things were true.
Leshak’s lips twisted.
“The news is late. The Blue Snake is already in my custody. Did you not know that?”
“He……”
The bewildered Chamberlain immediately straightened his faltering gaze.
“Don’t be quick to jump to conclusions about the Blue Snake. You don’t know how he kills people, do you? He has succeeded in assassinating anyone at any time. His first murder was when he was eleven. There is no man he cannot make up his mind to kill. There were no exceptions, be it man or beast.”
As long as the curse on the Blue Snake’s eyes was not known by the opposition, the Chamberlain was able to continue this negotiation.
“There is no point in having custody of him. He can kill with both hands and feet tied. The only one who can handle the Blue Snake fully, is Laud.”
“… …”
The Chamberlain noticed the subtle changes in the eyes of First Prince Leshak Caliph.
There was wavering in his heart.
Leshak Caliph was also a man. Anyone who learned that there are prophecies that threaten their life, and were coming true one by one, would have been diisturbed.
“I will accept terms for the war. He has no political experience and trusts me. All the promises I make here will be true.”
However, there was something the Chamberlain had misunderstood.
Leshak’s agitation was coming from somewhere else.
“Is the Second Prince the only one who can fully handle the Blue Snake?”
“……That’s right.”
“That’s right, that’s what you’re saying?”
Leshak’s hand was unknowingly on his heart. It was a habit that came into being at some point.
As his agitation intensified, it felt like his heart was on fire, and it was always Radan that lit the wick.
“What is the reason?”
“What? Reason?”
The Chamberlain was perplexed.
Why can Laud handle Blue Snake? It was because he was the only person the Blue Snake had. The only family that talks to him.
“My father has dementia. My big brother can’t use his legs, and my second brother desperately needs my help. I thought I’d heard that somewhere.”
The fingers that had been fumbling around his heart were now clasping in the same place.
“Rasil, Laud, and Radan.”
Leshak’s voice came down close. The Grand Chamberlain’s, who was sitting on the floor in the basement with his knees up, cold bottom shifted.
“…… That’s why……”
“The Blue Snake must be the son of Alsanu III.”
The Chamberlain bit his tongue.
He knew it wasn’t good to say it. The opponent was the Crown Prince of the enemy country. There was no reason for it to matter where the Blue Snake was born.
“What…… What does it matter?”
It had nothing to do with the Crown Prince of Ibeden.
Leshak knew that too. However, regardless of what his head knew, his blood was boiling all over his body.
There were too many things that could be guessed from the words of the Chamberlain.
They called the Prince of Kemened a monster.
And they were willing to trade his life for the life of the First Prince, who couldn’t even control his own bladder because of his hashish addiction.
Radan could not have been a Prince to them. It was a name that Radan had been promised in return for the assassination.
A name that he would never have been called before because of the words such as a Blue Snake or a Monster.
“Did you say that his first assassination was eleven?”
“… …”
The Chamberlain didn’t say anything and just shrugged his shoulders.
A different kind of fear crept in and froze him. Until he encountered Prince Leshak, who had just attacked him in the basement, he thought there was nothing more terrifying than the end of the Kemened Royal Family
But not now.
There now seemed to be something more terrifying than that.
“He crawled on his knees and licked his feet. The Prince of Kemened! If you don’t like it, you can hit me. He said that he often heard that hitting him felt good because his skin is so soft. Was that Laud Ranadia’s way of dealing with his brother ‘fully’?”
The Chamberlain shook his head vigorously, he had to deny whatever it was.
“Oh, you believe the assassin’s words……. Isn’t an assassin capable of inventing any lie?”
“He was walking through a brothel blindfolded. A place full of perverts who like children, like Count Custer. Blood gushed from the wounds where he had been whipped. Are you saying that was the Prince of Kemened?”
“He. The case…… ”
What Radan gave him was a pile of lies, and a handful of truths. Most of what he said was a lie. Had no choice but to think so. It had to be!
But why am I so angry?~
Leshak felt the rage that kept trying to get away from him.
The suspicion that maybe what Radan said were a bunch of truths, and a single lie, drove him out of control.
Radan said the name of his second brother was Laud.
He read the cipher text left by the spy.
He could not distinguish between what was to be hidden, and what was to be faked.
The idea that most of what Raden said might be true filled the hole in his heart with anger.
Radan betrayed him. Radan’s true identity was an assassin.
But Radan’s past still angered him.
It was as though it wasn’t Radan who lied to him, but Radan’s past.
The Chamberlain was also a part of that past.
Now, Leshak’s hands were trembling, and he wanted to cut off the Chamberlain’s head.
“What did you feed him?”
The Chamberlain eyes fluttered.
He too must have felt Leshek’s sharp anger towards himself. Even if he doesn’t understand why Leshak was angry.
“Why….. Why do you ask?”
“Was it a dried snake?”
“H,how…. that,”
The Chamberlain hurriedly shut his mouth.
The sight of Leshak’s hand groping over the hilt of his sword penetrated his eyes.
“And now, you use him as a prize for a deal. As though that life was nothing.”
Radan’s life should have meant nothing to Leshak. But he couldn’t stop it. Leshak’s lost control of his emotions.
His feelings were no longer his own.
It has probably been that way since before.
From the moment he met the assassin named Radan.
“There is no deal. Kemened will disappear from this land today.”
“Oh, no! I know the secret of the Blue Snake! If you don’t know that, the Blue Snake…… !”
Shwwp!-
The Chamberlain’s head was cut off.
Leshak’s sword shook with anger even after killing the man.
“Your Majesty!”
It was at that time that Abadd, who had searched the basement of Asilah Palace under Leshak’s order, returned.
“I found a secret passage, and,”
“And?”
“There is something for you to see.”
Abadd saw the sword still vibrating because he used too much force.
Leshak, who looked different from yesterday’s battle, was holding the sword.
His expression was clear.
The anger was clearer than that, as if it had been sharpened.
“What is it?”
“It’s a room underground.”
What Abadd discovered was a room, tightly sealed with a solid iron gate.
Layers of chains and locks hung from the bar that closed the iron door.
If you’re reading this anywhere other than Foolishtranslationss.wordpress.com, it was stolen from the translator’s website. Reading this anywhere other than the translator’s website ensures that the translator may never translate any other works. Thank you.
3The room was not big.
It was more like a metal box than a room.
The iron gate was thick but it was small, and the window at the bottom was even smaller.
“The lock has already been broken. If you tell me, I will open it.”
There were three locks in all.
One bar across the top, and one at the bottom of the iron gate, and one on the window.
Leshak bent over and retracted the bar on the window.
“Be careful, Your Majesty. We don’t know what it might be.”
Screeching-
Despite Abadd’s concerns, he opened the window. A cold friction sound raked across their eardrums.
The only thing that flowed out through the window was the rotting chill.
As he inhaled, the smell from the inside entered his body. The heavy, fishy smell that had been stagnant for a long time came straight into his lungs.
Leshak’s gaze scanned the room once.
The last place his eyes stopped was an old worn out pitted board with straw tangled on the floor.
Leshak’s face contorted.
“Was there……. anyone here?”
